Are you Taking Care of Your Business?

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of being interviewed, along with Kurt Locke a tax partner that I know at Deloitte, on the “Taking Care of Business” show on the VOICEOFAMERICA internet live talk radio channel.

Our host David Wallach asked us questions about everything from; how our childhoods molded us to be who we are today, to what motivated us to do what we do (our WHY), to what advice we would give a brand-new entrepreneur. His weekly show interviews entrepreneurs from start-ups to founders who have grown their businesses into Billion dollar companies.

He really wanted us to talk about our experiences working with entrepreneurs for many years, including the challenges, strategies we use, and successes. I shared WHY I do what I do, helping entrepreneurs (and executives) with their business challenges.

We also talked about the mistakes Kurt and I have seen entrepreneurs make, including not being well capitalized at start-up, because it almost always takes longer to be profitable than people think. We discussed the need for entrepreneurs to “let go” and surround themselves with great people (not only great employees, but also great advisers).

Here’s the bottom line: being an entrepreneur takes courage, determination, drive, ingenuity, learning from your mistakes, accepting rejection, motivation (to get out of bed even when you don’t want to), did I mention accepting rejection, and working through what often is the biggest challenge of all…the 5 inches between your ears (because having the discipline to keep going when having a bad “head day” can be quite challenging).

Here’s the benefits: you get to take complete responsibility for you and your family’s lives, you get to steer your life towards your passions, like most entrepreneurs you get to make a difference for people through the quality of your product or service offering, you get to grow as a business person, you get to surround yourself with amazing clients, customers and staff, you get to look in the mirror and yell at your boss and not get fired, and damn it can be a lot of fun along the way!

Kurt and I discussed some of the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs and what to do about it, and our host David had some excellent questions for us, requiring us to be completely candid, and he had an excellent way of getting us to really dive deep into the conversation.

Below is the link to the show; if you own or run a business, I believe it is really worth listening to. You might just get some new ideas. I would also love to know what you think of the show.